The Flame in the Flood

Nice and simple game, but very atmospheric and addictive. Great music gives the game a lot of more depth. However, there are a few minor bugs that don't fit the very polished appearance. Also, once you get a hang of how much each resource is worth (since the situations that can happen are rather limited) it is not very challenging to get along (at least in the easy mode). Finally, resolutions other than the recommended one don't work well (pixelated fonts) on my Mac and the german translations sometimes don't fit into their respectives boxes (without the ability to scroll). All in all, still a very immersive experience, a (tiny) bit like Faster Than Light – procedurally generated worlds and this cleverly built up desire not to die : )

RAFTING Some reviews say the rafting is unfair, but I've gone 10+ miles without bumping into anything. It can be mastered. It's one of the more relaxing parts of the game once you get the hang of it. COMBAT There are ways to kill every animal, but fighting them directly is discouraged. There are a few weapons, but they're meant to be used with traps. You can also pit animals against each other. There are ways to defend from every animal except for bears. Same as with rafting, defense can be mastered. STORY It's strangely at odds with itself. There's the obvious theme of natural disaster or climate change (the flood is never explained), but the game also highlights the self-determination and grit of the American south. Some characters are little more than caricatures, while others are more positive takes. In the developer commentary, they show their fondness for southern culture, but the characters and texts sometimes come off as demeaning. Maybe they wanted to show the good and bad together. I don't know. Whatever the message, it's not forced. There's some emotional depth, particularly with the dog as your only companion. GRAPHICS Unique style. Fixed camera perspective. Not much else to say. SOUND There are a lot of subtle audio cues. Some you'll hear upon entering an area, some only in close proximity. In most cases, you're given fair warning of danger if you're paying attention. MUSIC I disabled the music. It wasn't bad, but playing without it added to the desolate atmosphere. BUGS There are some bugs. These were mostly minor annoyances that I learned to work around. Nothing game-breaking. REPLAYABILITY I've survived 200+ days in-game. Completing all of the tasks and getting a "perfect" inventory took about as long. Things get harder the longer you play, but past that point it starts to get repetitive. The stress of survival lasts nearly until then. CONCLUSION It's not perfect, but there's a flow to it that's enjoyable, even addicting once you "get" it.

It's really fun to play, especially since it has that special sense of discovery, but it does get kinda dull towards the end, once you have seen pretty much everything, optimized all your gear and survival strategy and only have to chew through the last few miles. Some more sidequests on that part might have helped. Just know, this game is fun to play once (should buy especially in sale) and doesn't really have a super high replayability. Also minor bugs.

This game manages to remain unique in the flood (hah, get it? flood =D) of other procedurals, rouge-likes, and survival games thanks to it's unique design, and, well, completeness (in that it's actually released). Everything here is just right: the number of crafting recipes is just right and because of that every item is important, you often have to make difficult decisions what to do with a given item, and at the same time you don't feel flooded (hah! flooded =D ok, i'll stop) with numerous crafting recipes you'll never use. The graphics are very good, albeit stylized, so not everybody might pick up on the style (resembles Don't Starve a bit). The amount of things that can kill/harm you is just right and there is no random BS here (meaning if you're careful and are aware of them you should be able to evade these dangers). There are some minor flaws and bugs, more annoyances really (hence 4 stars and not 5). Transaltions can be a bit wonky, displayed text not always fits the given space, moving stacks of items doesn't work as it should, scrolling items in the list of crafting recipies is kinda broken as well. But as mentioned, these are only small annoyances that don't take away from the overall experience. What is great though is the overall atmosphere. It's a game that will make you WANT to survive. Let me tell you a story here: Scout (the main character) has just barely escaped an unpleasant meeting with a wolf. Her stomach was almost empty. Even Ezope (her dog) was not able to find food on the island they have just landed. She thought this is the end, that's as far as she goes. But when getting on a raft, CHuck Ragan started to play "Landsick". She looked at Ezope and felt a new rush of will to surivive. She will survive. She embarked further down the stream and she won't stop until she's there.

First of all if you like artsy games wait for a sale and buy this one. I really wanted to like this game for it's ascetics and quirky feel, also it had a dog. But the whole game felt like I was beta testing an unfinished game. The entire game seemed like a functional but glitchy and not a very functional beta test. I kind of wonder if they ran out of money most of the way through and just made what they had as playable as possible. The movement was the worst part. The game itself is not hard at all, but people rate it as hard do to the bad mechanics making it hard to play not hard to survive. By the end of the game all novelty has worn off the it just seemed like a chore to finish it, but I did. I loved the idea but sadly like love at first sight you tend to fall out of love just as fast. All that said, I would buy a undated version or sequel to this game and don't feel anything bad towards the developers. And always remember. Just because someone has a different opinion doesn't mean you can't be their friend.